Luna listened very carefully as she maintained her ruse.
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.
As the sand continued to patter against the walls around their camp, Celestia continued her tuneless humming. Luna could picture the brush moving rhythmically with each note and wondered if Celestia would ever be interested in combing her own midnight mane like when they had been younger. No longer being composed of real hair, it would be pointless, but Luna suspected it might feel nice again.
Relax your throat. Make sure to snore.
Luna’s ears twitched when she heard somepony say, “We should go see where Luna found the grass and water tomorrow.” The humming stopped.
Luna almost stirred at the words. It had sounded like it had been Twilight, but surely it must have been her sister. Luna felt her leg twitching with anxiety.
The act Luna. Maintain the act. It doesn’t matter who spoke. Focus on snoring. In and out.
A moment later the humming resumed.
How long can it take my blasted sister to comb a mane. I want to go to sleep.
After what seemed like forever, Luna felt her sister shifting and then a warm pressure on her back. Luna nearly giggled as the soft feathers brushed against her coat but managed to restrain herself, instead contenting herself by snuggling closer to her sister. The humming was done with. Celestia was going to sleep. Luna need wait for only a few more minutes until slumbering herself.
She thought of Cadence out on her own and cursed herself for her weakness.
Luna had meant what she had said to her sister, but had simply left out part of her reasoning. Sleeping alone out in the waste it would be a flip of the bit if she was going to sleep before or after everypony else. Without the constraint of clocks or schedules both Celestia and Cadence kept ridiculously erratic hours. Now Luna could ensure that at least two ponies went to bed before her. As long as she did not need to worry about staying near Cadence, there would be at least two guaranteed dreamers every night.
Sleep overcame Luna and she found herself in the same place she did whenever she slept.
It was the place of no dreams.
The void stretched out around her. Once, the void would have been lit by thousands of twinkling lights, but now there were but three pin pricks in the distance. The void and its lights were the original inspiration of her stars. Everypony dreaming, their hopes and fantasies all shining around her was beautiful, and she wanted to share that beauty with others.
Those stars had also been her escape.
Luna had never told her sister, or anypony else for that matter. It was her greatest shame, second only to becoming Nightmare Moon, that even being attuned to the moon and to dreams themselves, she herself did not dream.
If she had one wish it would be, just once, to dream her own dream.
Before the fall her handicap had been an annoyance, but nothing more. However, with only three ponies with dreams that she could visit, she was suffering. When Cadence had blocked her out it had become even worse.
Luna shuddered as she thought of the how bad it had become over the last few months.
In the far distance of the void Luna could make out a star that was not a star. It was the fifth light in the void and one she dare not approach. The light twisted and morphed, pulling in on itself only to reappear elsewhere. Only once during the Great Pandemonium had she made the mistake of looking into Discord’s mind. From what she had seen, it was a wonder that he was even able to put together two sentences.
Back when the stars in the void numbered in the millions she would split her consciousness and experience the dreams of a multitude of ponies. In return for what they gave her, she would sheperd them to a restful slumber and peaceful dreams. Now with so few, she wanted to savor each one as much as possible. Rather than an army of Lunas flying through the void there would be only one.
Luna spread her wings and glided through the dreamless nothingness to a pink star. With centuries of dreams Luna had seen fantasies of all sorts , but found that her niece was still able to make her blush. Despite how isolated and solitary Cadence had become during the day, the younger alicorn’s dreams were still surprisingly healthy with its warm radiance.
The crystal barrier that had been around the star for months was gone. Luna smiled when she saw that Cadence had indeed been telling the truth when she had invited Luna to resume entering her dreams. However, the welcoming absence of the spherical barrier only made the guilt of abandoning her niece all the more acute.
Luna moved her nose near the glowing star and breathed deeply. It did not smell of lust tonight, but had the hint of passion mixed in with expectation and excitement. She moved her eye up to the star and gazed in. There was a pressure as if something was pulling her in and her mane began to flutter towards the star. With a precise flutter of her wings she held herself in place, keeping her eyes locked on the glowing light.
Cadence and Shining Armor were hiding behind a large potted plant watching Celestia and Twilight awkwardly talk in the garden. Shining looked as he did during his younger years without the burdens of age. Twilight was still a unicorn in the dream. Luna shook her head in pity.
The flowers were in full bloom, a mix of white lilies and bunches of lavender. Petals seemed to be raining down from the air, but when Luna looked up she could find no source. She turned back to the ponies in the garden as she realized they were talking.
“Princess Celestia... I had gotten an anonymous letter telling me to come here. It said some pony had something special to share with me.”
“I… My student, I received a similar letter. When I saw you here I…”
Luna licked her lips. The wafts of expectation combined with the fervor of excited apprehension in particular were quite exquisite. This was what she had been missing. Luna breathed in deeply. The dream had the flavor of a memory. She looked at the blush on her sister’s face and wondered how accurate it really was.
The flavor of the dream shifted.
Cadence let out an excited giggle, and Twilight flung herself at Celestia. Moments later the two were on the ground furiously making out.
Luna sighed. This was why she did not like coming to Cadence’s dreams. Ordinarily she would be able to take enjoyment in the flavors of such a dream, but the presence of Celestia gave it a poor taste. Still any nourishment was better than none at all.
I suppose it is more memory merged with fantasy than anything else.
“Sister? Twilight?”
Luna quirked an eyebrow as a dream version of herself entered the garden. With an appraising eye she thought her hips looked much more attractive in the dream than in real life. The dream version of Luna seemed surprised.
“Luna, I-”
“Princess Luna.”
“How coulds’t thou have a make out party and not invite me?”
Yes, definately fantasy.
Luna pulled away from the dream before it could devolve into a steamy pile of alicorn.
As she drifted away from the pink star she scraped her tongue against her teeth trying to get the taste out of her mouth. The pink star seemed to wink at her.
Had she sensed my presence?
Luna shook her head. It had been her imagination, nothing more. She considered forcing the dream into something more palatable, but shook her head. She would let Cadence have her fantasies. Looking between the other two stars and the one so very close by, her face twisted into a frown. She was so hungry, perhaps she would return later. At the very least she should go back to chat with Cadence.
I did leave her all alone…
But first she needed to deal with the rumbling pit at the center of her being. Luna rolled over onto her back and gazed at her other two possibilities. Finally her eyes narrowed in on a purple star that twinkled in the distance.
She floated towards the dreams of her savior, Twilight Sparkle.
Luna approached hesitantly and with great caution. Twilight’s dreams did not have anywhere near the same madness as Discord’s, but since the fall they had been unpredictable.
Once Luna had hoped to find the Twilight that had been lost to them buried within her dreams, but she had little success in getting through to the scholar. There were some nights, particularly more recently, in which they were able to carry on what passed for a conversation but it was always strained.
How much of her is really left?
Luna had resigned herself to the fact that the best she could do was take away Twilight’s nightmares, but even that had been barred to her by Celestia. Her sister was convinced that the nightmares were Twilight’s ways of trying to work through the trauma, and so every night Luna just let Twilight suffer.
Luna wondered if Celestia understood just how bad the nightmares were and resolved to discuss the issue again with her sister.
She took a careful sniff, and moved her muzzle closer: the smell of paper and dust, along with something else most peculiar. Over the years, Luna had come to identify it as the scent of Twilight dreaming of mathamagical equations. Luna frowned when she noticed what was missing, and she breathed in more deeply. There were no emotions. There would be no sustenance in the twinkling star, but Luna owed it to Twilight to look in anyway.
She gave us back everything, and we can do nothing for her.
The sky was blue and endless.
Twilight was falling, but all around her hundreds of thousands of books were falling as well. There was no ground below, only sky and books as far as she could see. As Luna watched she could see many of the books dwarfed Twilight in size and were open, flapping in the wind as if they were great birds. Twilight landed on a book and compressed her legs before springing to another one with a flutter of her wings.
She smiled at the flapping appendages. It had only been two years before the fall when Twilight began to consistently have wings in her dreams.
I’m glad you came to be at peace with your new body.
Luna watched as Twilight leapt from book to book. At each one she would read out a few facts or quotes and then jump to the next. Occasionally she would miss a jump before falling and landing on another book below with a loud thud. Luna winced several times as she watched, but Twilight never seemed to mind. Each time she would just pick herself up again and continue her hunt.
It seemed like Twilight was searching for something, but Luna could not imagine what. She watched for a few moments before deciding to astrally enter the dream. She let herself surcome to the pull on her mane and became part of the dream.
The wind flowed through her feathers, and unlike when she had been peeking into Cadence’s dream she was hit with the fullness of the experiences. It was always better to enter completely. Luna just wished there was some feeling to the dream.
She flew down to the book that Twilight was currently standing on.
“Twilight Sparkle?”
It was a flip of a bit whether she would get a response.
“Lu- Luna?” Twilight looked up in surprise. “What are you doing here? You don’t normally come to the library.”
“How are you doing Twilight.”
“I’m… I was researching something… Something important, but I keep forgetting what it is.” Twilight sat down in crook of the book’s binding.
Luna smiled. If she could get one response out of Twilight, she might be able to get more.
“How are you feeling Twilight?”
“I’m… I think your sister was reading me a story earlier… Where did she go? I think we were having a nice time. Where are you? Are you hiding somewhere?”
Luna smiled. Twilight was remembering things, if only in her dreams. She would need to share this news with her sister. Suddenly Luna remembered all of the things she had said around Twilight that day and her smile disappeared.
“Do you remember anything else from today?”
“I think... “ Twilight turned away from Luna and began to gaze into the distance. “I think there was a game.” Luna’s smile widened only to disappear at the next words. “We were playing… tag? She told me she wanted to talk to me about something.”
Luna’s double hearts froze.
Is it a coincidence, or is her mind really there during the day?
“Twilight, could you describe the story to me at all?”
“It was about the Tower of Babel. Icarus was an earth pony, but wanted to be in the sky with the pegasi. He built his tower too high.”
Luna shook her head. “Twilight, that’s not how either of those stories go.”
“But some ponies stole his plans. They used them to hurt him and all he loved. Why aren’t these books organized. It would make it so easy if they were in their right places. Poor Icarus who lost his wings.”
Twilight hopped to another book and Luna sighed. It was still better than she was during the day and she would remain in the dream for as long as she could.
“Twilight… Tell me, how you would like to live in a castle? I mean, instead of a wasteland.”
“Applejack never liked my castle.”
Luna pursed her lips as she contemplated her next question.
“Tell me Twilight, are you happy?”
“Right now or in the general case?”
“Both or either.”
“Apples cannot be compared to bananas.”
“Um… Are you happy right now?”
“Right now… I want my books to be in order. I need Spike to help me sort my books…. Luna, what happened to Spike?”
Luna felt her answer catch in her throat. Eventually she settled on a quiet, “Spike’s not here right now.”
“I wish Spike was here. He is so good at helping me sort my books… In general, Yes.”
“Yes? Yes what?”
“The general case. I’m happy. She and I get to spend all day together talking about magic and reading books.”
Luna felt her entire body quivering at how coherent the youngest alicorn was, this was the best she been in what seemed like forever.
“Would you like to talk magical theory right now?”
“Viral magic. Self replicating spells.”
Luna looked at Twilight in curiosity. The smaller pony was staring down at the book she stood on. Twilight began to tremble from hooves to tail.
“Twilight what’s wrong?”
“I think I found what I was looking for.”
Luna knew the dream was changing before it happened. It was a scent on the wind, emotion had finally entered the dream.
It was stark terror.
In the distance Luna could see a red glow. Luna stepped in place in indecision. She had avoided Twilight’s nightmares at Celestia’s request, but didn’t want to leave. The emotion was intense, and Luna could imagine what it would taste like if she shaped the dream away from the nightmare it was about to transform into.
Twilight looked up at the red glow and then tried closing the book on herself as if to hide. If not for the tears in Twilight’s eyes, Luna would have found the Twilight sandwich funny, the cover acting as bread. The glow came closer, and Luna could hear the pained howling of ponies.
Luna focused her vision on what was approaching.
A tendril of flame was reaching for one of the books. When it made contact, the text rapidly flared up, and two more tendrils screeched from it to other tomes. The fire moved along, book from book, branching out into a network of flames as it engulfed Twilight’s mind.
Luna hopped into the air, holding herself aloft with her wings and looked down at Twilight still cowering in her book. The fire was coming closer, and Luna thought she could make out the shadows of skulls within the flames. Soon the tendrils would reach Twilight and her makeshift shelter would only ensure her immolation.
Luna could pull Twilight from the book. She could save Twilight from the coming nightmare. She could betray Celestia’s trust again.
Luna shook her head and flung herself out from the dream.
The nightmare stuff still filled her mouth and Luna retched in the void. She swiped her hoof, dissipating what had clung to her back into the ether.
The star still twinkled in front of her, but now it glowed an angry red. As she continued to watch she began to hear the echo of a filly’s screams coming from it. With a powerful beat of her wings she propelled herself, putting as much distance between herself and the nightmare as possible. She watched as her tears crystallized in the void.
Luna was nearly out of hope. There was only one dream left. She didn’t want to spend another night floating in the void alone. The dreamless void was even worse than the moon had ever been.
I’m focused on my own hunger while Twilight is suffering… I am a base cur...
Celestia’s dreams had always been a beacon. The radiant star in the center of Luna’s void, she never had trouble finding the warm yellow glow. Luna floated to it, trying to focus on the light and not on the emptiness around her.
As she approached the star that was a sun, she noticed she could still see Twilight’s star in the corner of her eyes. Curiosity overwhelmed her and she shot upwards away from both of them. Her meal could wait for a little longer.
Luna had never noticed it before, but the twinkling star was orbiting Celestia’s own star. Tendrils of solar prominences seemed to leap towards Twilight’s light, desperately trying and failing to close the distance. No matter how close two ponies might be, in the void the distance was always impassible.
She glided back down towards her sister’s dream. Celestia had nice normal dreams, and even if Luna found a nightmare, Celestia had said nothing about interfering with her own dreams. Luna would make sure her sister would have a peaceful slumber.
As Luna approached, the star pulsed at her in a friendly manner and Luna could not help but smile. Even when things had been at their worst between them, Celestia’s unconscious had always been welcoming. She lifted her hoof and felt the warm glow.
I love you too dearest sister.
Luna felt her mane being pulled towards the surface of the star, but held herself back. She would give Celestia dreams of a happier time, but it always helped to have some foreknowledge of what she was going into.
Luna looked into the dream.
+++
Glowing Radiance Sweeps Election
The results are in and Cloudsdale pegasi Glowing Radiance has won with an amazing seventy eight percent of the vote.
“I think the results show a great unity of vision for the future of Equestria.”
Glowing Radiance will be sworn in next month as the first Prime Minister of Equestria. As leader of the Traditionalist party, Radiance will have her work cut out for her as she works with the head of the opposition party, Ponies of Equestria for Technomagical Advancement.
The division between these two parties is well known, and all await to see how they cooperate in the future (for an editorial, see pg 23).
Some apprehension has continued to be expressed regarding in the Crystal Empire's decision not to participate in what will likely forever be known as “Sparkle’s Great Experiment.”
In a press conference, Princess Cadence had this to say...